Farewell to the Valley
It was a magical and historic night at Moonee Valley on February 6 – the final night of harness racing at Melbourne’s mid-city track following 33 years of innovation and success. And the last race provided a first for trainer Jenny Johnson, and the winning driver of the last event was no other than Gavin Lang – the person who has driven more winners at that track in its harness racing history. Lang steered Strident to win in the final event at the track – taking his tally to 1029 Valley victories. “This place has been like a second home to me for a long time and to be fortunate enough to win the last race here is something that I’ll remember for a long time,” Lang said. Strident provided Elmore trainer Jenny Johnson her maiden success at the venue that was home to Victorian harness racing since the track opened on October 30, 1976. But that was only part of the fantasy, as Johnson’s stable foreman Graeme Johannesen also had an enduring link with the track. Johannesen trained trotter True Roman who won 35 races at the Valley, and who still holds the record for the most wins at Moonee Valley. “This is my first Moonee Valley winner - and it’s going to be my last Moonee Valley winner - so it’s been a great night,” Johnson said.

There were many others highlights on the night:
+ At least 17,500 fans turned up to watch the last night of harness racing at the Valley – the biggest crowd for more than a decade;
+ Victorian trained Sundon’s Gift took out the Inter Dominion Trotters Championship final to become only the second horse to win Australasia’s premier event in consecutive years;
+ Kiwi pacer Bondy landed a good old-fashioned betting plunge to win the Group 1 $400,000 A.G. Hunter Cup, and continued the successful Kiwi raids of the Moonee Valley feature events over the past 33 years;
+ Kiwi pacer Courage To Rule, driven by NSW reinsman Greg Bennett, joined the honour roll of Australia’s oldest pacing classic with an upset win in the $200,000 Group 1 Alabar Victoria Derby – it was 11 years after his sire Courage Under Fire joined the elite list at the same track;
+ Cullen Bromac gave trainer Debbie Quinlan a special farewell victory when he outclassed his rivals in the Premiere Stakes. He is the son of Christian Cullen, who realised $150,000 at last year’s Auckland yearling sale. It was an appropriate win as it was on the same weekend one year after Cullen Bromac’s trainers, Gary and Debbie Quinlan, fought to save their harness racing stables and property at Drouin West from the Black Saturday bushfires;
New South Wales owned Cincinnati
Kid claimed the Free For All.

Classics shouldn’t clash
The Grand Circuit must be changed to stop the clashing of classic races.
Again this season we had the ridiculous situation of staging Grand Circuit events one day apart.
Surely it is not that hard to get all the club officials and Harness Racing Australia officials together to work out a suitable program that not only suits the owners, trainers, drivers and horses, but also the harness racing public.

Late last year the Fremantle Pacing Cup was held in West Australia on Friday, December 4, then the following day the Treuer Memorial was run in New South Wales.

The scenario happened again early this year with the Australian Pacing Championship being held in West Australia on Friday, January 8 then the South Australian Pacing Cup was held on Saturday, January 9.

And there are some other Grand Circuit events which could be better placed.
The question that does stand out is: “Is there one set of Grand Circuit events for West Australian horses, then another set for the rest?”

After all, it is called the Grand Circuit – not half a circuit!



Growth spurt in Qld
Harness racing is having a growth spurt in Queensland, in particular the Wide Bay Harness Racing Club at Maryborough. No regular trotting action has been seen at the Maryborough Showgrounds since 1985 – but that drought is now over. Well, it was, until a deluge of rain saw their return meeting (January 10) abandoned due to the state of the track and safety issues. The next meeting will be held in about a month.

Wide Bay Harness Racing Club vice-president Don Cross said these were exciting times for the sport in the region. “It will be really great to see the horses going around the track again because that was what it was built for and it’s been idle for so long,” Cross said.

The facility at Maryborough is the only one north of Brisbane following the closure of Rockhampton in 2007. Toowoomba is also having a harness meeting, at the Toowoomba Show on April 16.
And Marburg, west of Brisbane, is having a number of non-TAB meetings this season.



Blakemore eyes Crown
The 16-year-old Auckland driver Michael Blakemore is after the coveted Kidz Kartz Triple Crown at Menangle’s Tabcorp Park on March 7.

Michael has already won the New Zealand and Auckland Cups and now is challenging for the 2010 Kidz Kartz (Pony Trot) Inter-Dominion Final driving his 17YO pony Kristeen Kullen.

Michael is the first New Zealand Kidz Kartz driver to compete in an Inter-Dominion Pony Trot Grand Final in Australia.

It is not the first Inter final for Michael as he ran second behind his sister Kelly (now a junior driver)
in the 2005 Inter-Dominion Kidz Kartz Final at Alexandra Park in Auckland.

Then following the trip to Australia, Michael will be at Alexandra Park trying to defend his Auckland Cup crown on March 12.



Big night for Brown
West Australian horseman Colin Brown had a memorable night at Gloucester Park recently when he became only the fourth person to drive 1000 winners in Perth.

The 51-year-old Brown joins an elite list of reinspeople to achieve the feat, joining Chris Lewis (1930 Perth winners), Fred Kersley jun. (1730) and Trevor Warwick (1172).

Brown’s first city winner was behind Esteral Lass at Richmond Raceway on August 19, 1977.

It will be a while before another joins the exclusive “1000 team” with the next best being Gary Hall junior on 845 Perth wins and Phil Coulson on 814.

Brown also registered his 2000th career driving success.

Only three West Australian reinsmen have achieved the 2000-win milestone - Chris Lewis (more than 3750 wins), Fred Kersley junior (2345) and Trevor Warwick (2026).



Old hands’ magic touch
It was certainly a challenge of the “young” versus the “old” recently at Victor Harbour in South Australia.
Old hands like Keith Joy, who is 76, and Dick White, 74, both won races at the track much to the delight of the crowd, but 17-year-old Aaron Baine took the driving honours registering a double at the meeting.



Girls night out
It may have been a wet and windy night but some of our state’s best women drivers braved the conditions to contest a special series of races put on by the western districts harness racing clubs last month.

Rebecca Brown took the series, but all the girls got a huge kick out of racing each other and the series looks likely to become a regular fixture.



Elsu colt tops sale
The recent South Australian Yearling Sale saw 46 yearlings go under the hammer for a sale average price of $6798. Top seller was an Elsu colt, the first foal out of Moonee Valley winner Perfect Lignum. The yearling fetched $21,000. Next was an Art Major-Lee Almahurst colt which realised $20,000.



Special win for Wally
A $20,000 Mares Open Pace recently at the Isle Casino Racing at Pompano Park in North America will always be a special win for reinsman Wally Hennessey. In the sulky behind 16-1 shot Flip For Love, Hennessey recorded his 7500th career race win. “To get to 7500 career wins is just a great feeling, since early in my career I couldn’t have dreamed of driving in 7500 races altogether, much less winning that many,” he said.

And to keep the milestone in the family his win came courtesy of a horse trained by his brother, Dan.
Hennessey is well remembered as the driving partner of world champion trotting mare Moni Maker during her reign of supremacy from 1995-2000.

His career, however, has also been very consistent. He’s amassed driving earnings surpassing $1 million every year since 1990. Hennessey’s top year for wins at 419 was 1995 and his top career year for driving purse earnings at almost $4.3 million was 1997.



Kiwis launch new channel
New Zealand launched a second racing channel, TAB TV, late last year. TAB TV offers a comprehensive New Zealand and international race coverage. At the same time, Trackside will focus on New Zealand racing. The current UHF (free to air) service will continue to broadcast Trackside on Wednesday through to Sunday. New Zealand Racing Board Chief Executive Andrew Brown said TAB TV would complement Trackside, which has 300,000 viewers a month. “TAB TV is an exciting innovation that will provide a much-needed boost to our local racing industry,” he said.

TAB TV will show more races while Trackside will offer more in-depth coverage of New Zealand racing, as well as a selection of the best international racing. There will be more build up and analysis to satisfy racing fans.

Brown said customer research showed people watched Trackside for two different reasons: entertainment and betting. TAB TV is aimed at punters who want more racing events to bet on. TAB TV will screen all New Zealand races and where possible, full international meetings, from Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, North America, South Africa, France and the United Kingdom.

Brown said TAB TV was expected to generate $4 million in annual profit within three years, which will be distributed among the racing codes - greyhounds, harness racing and thoroughbreds.



Amateur races are a hit
Over in New Zealand Steve Phillips and wife Anne have pushed hard for amateur TAB races and they are proving to be very successful. Ten totalisator amateur driving races were held last season and another five in each Island are scheduled for this season. The Phillips couple co-founded amateur driving in New Zealand in 2002.

And they have other involvements in the industry as well with Steve being one of New Zealand’s most valuable harness racing administrators, breeder, prolific owner and also assists Anne with Kidz Kartz in Franklin, which helps children become involved in harness racing.

The husband and wife duo were also Harness Racing New Zealand’s delegates at the World Trotting Conference in Norway. “Getting amateur TAB races off the ground has been a couple of years in the pipeline and I’m just delighted they are up and running. Now we can put in a bid for New Zealand to host the 2012 World Amateur Driving Championships,”  Phillips said.

Earlier last year Steve won New Zealand’s first-ever totalisator race at the Kumeu Trotting Club’s meeting behind Cipolletti.



Veterans make history
A couple of North America veterans teamed up to create their own history recently at Scarborough Downs racetrack. Leigh Finch, a 64-year-old reinsman, piloted the 14-year-old trotter Another Lindy to victory. It was the 62nd lifetime win for Another Lindy and the 7500th career victory for Fitch.
Forty-seven years separate Fitch from his first driving win, in 1962 with Miss Marie Pointer at the Windsor (Maine) Fair. And not being left out was Mike Wilder, who recently at The Meadows registered his 5000th career victory.



Jamieson leads the way
Canadian reinsman Jody Jamieson certainly proved he was by far the best driver in that country in 2009. The 33-year-old set a Canadian record for driving wins in the racing season. In his fifth win on the race card at the Flamboro Downs racetrack, Jamieson notched his 740th win for the year behind the Real Desire three-year-old filly, Wild Heart. The previous record of 739 victories was set by Mark MacDonald three years ago.

Jamieson won more than $C11 million purses during 2009 and has now reined more than 5000 races and netted $C65 million in career stakes.



An end to the slaughter
The Equine Welfare Alliance, an organization representing more than 70 member organizations, strongly applauds the recent announcement from the New York Racing Association establishing a zero tolerance policy toward horse slaughter at its racetracks.

Chris Hayward, NYRA president and chief executive officer, stated: “We are fully committed to protecting our sport’s equine athletes.“This policy sends the message that horse slaughter will not be tolerated and that those participating in this practice, either knowingly, or for lack of due diligence, will not be welcome at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, or Saratoga,” he added.

“Hayward refers to American race horses as athletes - an appropriate term deserving of the horse’s contributions to the sport,” said EWA’s John Holland.

“Racing enthusiasts come to see the horses and it is the horses that bring revenues. They deserve a dignified retirement, not ending up on an elite diner’s plate in Europe,” added EWA’s, Vicki Tobin.
The NYRA zero tolerance policy states, “Any owner or trainer stabled at a New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) track found to have directly or indirectly sold a horse for slaughter will have his or her stalls permanently revoked from all NYRA tracks. NYRA requires its horsemen to conduct due diligence on those buying horses and encourages them to support rescue and adoption efforts and to find humane ways of dealing with horses unable to continue racing.”



And around the traps...

• The 2010 World Cup of Amateur Racing will be held in France from July 19 to 25. The events will be contested in Paris with at least 12 countries participating.

• Harness Racing South Australia has increased the base level stakemoney for a two-year-old race on a Saturday night TAB meeting by 33 per cent. The prizemoney on offer is now $8000.

• About 30,000 fans witnessed the rank outsider, Oyonnax, 172-1 in the betting, win the prestigious Prix d’Amerique at Vincennes in Paris. And keeping the favourites at bay, second place went to
Quaker Jet, who was 104-1. The seven-year-old Oyonnax, driven by Sebastian Baude, collected the first prize of $700,000.

• Canadian Rick Zeron recently celebrated his 7000th winner at the Mohawk Racetrack. Not resting on his laurels, within 24 hours of knocking off that milestone Zeron notched another three harness racing victories on the same racetrack. Friends and family were on hand to help Zeron celebrate following the 7000th win.

• Krissy K, a nine-year-old trotting mare, late last year won her 19th race in 2009 at Northfield and became the winningest trotter in North America. Chinny Wings and K F B Espada have registered 18 wins. Two pacers, Shortest Distance and Bell On Wheels, had 20 wins apiece, while Real Espresso has scored 19 times.

• North American Ron Pierce recently had a good run in the sulky, registering 21 wins in five days, which included three “five-win” days.

• France’s most important race for three-year-olds, the Group 1 Criterium des 3 Ans (240,000 euro) was won by Sun Ceravin. The colt covered the classical distance of 2700 metres at Vincennes in race record time. Franck Nivard drove Sun Ceravin to victory and this follows his successful drives behind Quarla in the Group 2 Prix du Bourbonnais Group 2 Prix Octave Douesnel with Ready Cash.